Multiple compartment bucket elevator



July 13, 1954 s; M. MERCIER MULTIPLE COMPARTMENT BUCKET ELEVATOR Original Filed Oct. 3, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet l V [NVENTOE 5TANLEY M. MEECIEE, BY

July 13, 1954 s. M. MERCIER MULTIPLE COMPARTMENT BUCKET ELEVATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Oct. 5, 1946 ,1 llil IIII VI "H STA-N LEY M. MERCER,

Patented July 13, 1954 MULTIPLE COMPARTMENT BUCKET ELEVATOR Stanley M. Mercier, Bexley, Ohio, assignor to The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Ohio Original application October 3, 1946, Serial No. 700,928. Divided and this application January 10, 1951, Serial No. 205,381

7 Claims.

This invention relates to elevators or conveyors and, more specifically, to multiple compartment bucket elevators or conveyors that may be used with advantage in elevating simultaneously two or more different kinds of material or the same material in different conditions, such as temperature conditions.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved bucket elevator for elevating two or more materials which differ in characteristics, such as kind, or in temperature while maintaining the different materials separate, said materials being received along different paths and discharged along different paths whereby they may fiow to different units of a complete system.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved multiple compartment bucket elevator.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved multiple compartment bucket elevator, including improved buckets, having improved partition means and guide means cooperating to direct material as it is discharged from the buckets.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel features and combinations being set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side view of an elevator embodying the invention and showing a portion of a guiding and supporting superstructure, the casing insulation being omitted;

Fig. 2 is a somewhat schematic combination sectional and elevational view of the head section of the elevator, designed particularly to show the relation of the buckets while passing over the head shaft, some of the bucket details also being illustrated;

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of the bucket conveyor, showing the buckets as they tra'vel upwardly to carry material;

Fig. 4 is a view taken along lines 44 of Fig. 2, with parts omitted, showing particularly one of the buckets as it moves downwardly adjacent the discharge chute, and also showing parts of the chute partitions; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view through one of the buckets taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 2 of the drawings, showing particularly one of the bucket partitions and the inside of the bucket.

This application is a division of my co-pending application, Serial No. 700,928, filed October 3, 1946, now Patent No. 2,570,363, dated October 9, 1951, for a Bucket Elevator, It is to be understood that the construction and operation of the apparatus of this application follows that of my parent application above identified, and that only the subject matter pertinent to the present inven tion is described herein in detail.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings, there is illustrated an elevator or conveyor ii) that is employed for elevating or conveying upwardly hot catalyst material that is fed into the elevator housing or casing ll through a feed chute 52 adjacent the bottom thereof. The catalyst flowing into the elevator housing or casing I! through the feed chute I2 is received by buckets !3 of a chain and bucket elevator or conveyer apparatus E i, and is conveyed upwardly and discharged from the housing or casing H through a discharge chute id at the top thereof. The chains it of the conveyer mechanism are guided substantially throughout their upright runs in guide members ll carried within the casing H, and they travel over and are driven by a head shaft assembly including spaced wheels, one of which is indicated at :8 in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The wheels l8 are carried upon a shaft 19 supported in bearings 28, and shaft 19 is driven from a motor and speed reducing drive mechanism, indicated at 2!. Within the bottom of the housing or casing H there is a foot shaft assembly 22 around which the chains of the eonveyer travel. The foot shaft assembly 22 is carried by the chains 16 of the conveyer mechanism It and is free to move upwardly and downwardly to follow expansion and contraction of the chains.

As previously mentioned, the head shaft i9 of the elevator i8 is supported through bearings 29 which are mounted upon channels of a head framework 23, which in turn is supported on a torsion ring 2 which superscribes the top of casing l I and which is attached thereto by a frustoconical petticoat, skirt, or flange 25, the bottom of which is welded to the torsion ring 24 and the top of which is welded to the top of casing H and to the bottom of the head section 26 thereof. It is thus evident that the frame 23, the head shaft l9, and the bucket elevator mechanism 1 are directly supported from the casing H. The drive mechanism 2| for the head shaft [5 is supported by the framework 23.

The elevator it also includes a petticoat, skirt, or flange 2? with which there is an associated ring 28 and ring or flange 29. Ring 28 is rigidly attached to the casing H of elevator H) adjacent its bottom, and ring 29 is supported by I-beams of a superstructure 30. As a consequence, the casing l of elevator It is suspended or supported by the skirt 2? and the superstructure 36 with the major portion thereof projecting above the plane of support and only the foot section or bottom thereof hanging down from said plane or support.

Guides 3| are provided between the head and foot sections and above the supporting skirt 21. Said guides are provided by forming circumferential bands or belts 32, preferably constructed of angles, which belts 32 are rigidly attached to the casing II by welding. At spaced intervals around each belt 32 are upstanding guide bars 33 which slidably extend into notches formed in brackets or clips 34 mounted on channel members of a superstructure 35. It is thus evident that the bars 33 are rigidly attached to the casing II and are free to slide upwardly and downwardly in the brackets 34 which are rigid with the superstructure 35. These guides 3| brace the casing l I and help prevent undesirable movement or twisting thereof.

It may be mentioned that in the complete elevator unit the exterior surface of the housing or casing II includes a layer of insulating material which has not been shown in the drawings. This is because of the fact that the catalytic material. is very hot, as a consequence of which there what lower temperature spent catalyst, so that both the spent and regenerated catalyst is elevated simultaneously in the same casing I while maintained segregated at all times and being discharged over different paths.

Attention is now directed particularly to Figs. 2 to 5 of the drawings and to certain structural features of the bucket elevator mechanism I4. Extending between and rigidly attached at opposite sides to the previously mentioned elevator chains I6 is a series of overlapping multiple com partment buckets I3 which are preferably in substantially overlapping relation, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. Each of the buckets I3 is provided with three cells, compartments or sections 36, 31 and 38. Viewed in a slightly different manner, the compartments 36, 3? and 38 may be considered as separate buckets integrally formed to form a unit of three buckets.

It is evident that the buckets or cells 35 of a complete series along the longitudinal length of the chains I6 form one working series adapted to receive one type of material, maintaining it separate from the other buckets or compartments and discharging it along any particular chute path of the discharge chute I5. The same is true of the series of buckets or cells 3'! and the series of buckets or cells 38. In the particular installation here involved, the feed chute is divided into three passageways or chute troughs, not shown, the outside ones of which deliver spent catalyst to the series of compartments or buckets 36 and 38 and the center one of which delivers regenerated catalyst to buckets, cells or compartments 3'1, all at the bottom of the elevator. The materials thus segregated in the buckets of elevator mechanism I4 will be maintained in this relation and individually discharged to the three compartments 39, 40, and M of the discharge chute I5 adjacent the elevator top.

The separate compartments of the multiple buckets I3 are formed by partitions 42 which are best illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawings. These partitions 42 are bifurcated at their outer ends, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawings, and, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, the outer bifurcated end of each partition 42 overlaps or receives between its spaced parts an aligned guide fin, partition or plate 43 on the front of the preceding buckets so that co-operation between a partition 42 and fin, partition or plate 43 produces a partition which is continuous at least over some portion, particularly as each bucket I3 reaches its final discharging position, the discharging position being reached as the buckets I3 travel over the head shaft I9 which is the position of the buckets to the left of a vertical plane through shaft I9, as viewed in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

It is evident that the buckets I3 or the compartments of the multiple buckets will start to discharge as soon as a bucket passes over a point directly above shaft I9. As these buckets travel in a path which is along an arc of a circle their discharging characteristic progressively increases until they start moving rectilinear-1y downwardly which is the position of the lower left-hand bucket 53, as viewed in Fig. 2 of the drawings. While the buckets are moving along the arc of a circle the partitions 42 do not overlap the fins 43. However, they are in alignment with them and due to the flaring or diverging character of partitions 42, as material travels adjacent them outwardly from the buckets I3, it is evident that they will guide material in converging paths and direct 2e material into the guiding paths provided by the fins or guide plates 43 on the fronts of the buckets I 3, which fronts under these circumstances act as complementary feed chutes to aid in delivering and guiding the material to the stationary feed chute I5, also confining the segregated spent and regenerated catalyst to preselected paths of travel. End flanges 44 on opposite ends of buckets I3 cooperate to provide the outside complementary feed chutes on the fronts of said buckets I3.

As the buckets pass over head shaft is and begin their downward travel they progressively reach a full discharging position and cooperate with each other to discharge the material while maintaining it segregated and discharging it into three streams in the discharge chute I5, the partitions 45 of which are in alignment with the partitions 42 of the buckets I3 and with the guide partitions or fins 43 on the fronts of the buckets, all of which co-operate to maintain the segregation of the different characteristic materials, such as the spent and regenerated catalyst.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims hereto appended, and applicant therefore wishes not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of the invention, what it is desired to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A bucket elevator including a series of lapping buckets, partition means dividing bucket into a plurality of compartments, said. partition means flaring outwardly along the path of material leaving said bucket, and partition guide means on the front of each bucket adapted to overlap the partition of the adjacent bucket when each bucket reaches discharging position.

2. A bucket elevator including a series of overlapping buckets, and partition means dividing each bucket into a plurality of compartments, said partition means flaring outwardly along the path of material leaving said bucket.

3. A bucket elevator including a plurality of overlapping buckets, partition means in said buckets including a split partition, and guide means on the front of each bucket adapted to extend into said split partition when each bucket is in discharging position, the front of each bucket and said guide means forming chutes for material discharging from the bucket following it when said bucket is in said discharging position.

4. A bucket elevator including a plurality of overlapping buckets, partition means in said buckets, and guide means on the front of each bucket adapted to extend said partition when each bucket is in discharging position, the front of each bucket and said guide means forming chutes for material discharging from the bucket following it when said bucket is in said discharging position.

5. An elevator bucket including partition means forming it into a plurality of compartments, and guide means on the outside of the front of said bucket aligned with said partition means and adapted to co-operate with the front to guide material from a similar bucket when the bucket is inverted.

6. A bucket elevator including a series of overlapping buckets, partition means dividing each bucket into a plurality of compartments, said partition means flaring outwardly along the path of material leaving said bucket, and partition guide means on the front of each bucket adapted to align with the partition of the adjacent bucket when each bucket reaches discharging position.

7. An elevator bucket including partition means forming it into a plurality of compartments, said partition means being flared outwardly along the path of travel of material passing out of said bucket, and aligned guides on the front of said bucket in alignment with said partition means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,489,803 Vance Apr. 8, 1924 2,394,638 Schrader Feb. 12, 1946 2,480,625 Bergstrom Aug. 30, 1949 2,510,212 Donnell June 6, 1950 2,531,192 Bergstrom Nov. 21, 1950 

